"Oh, dear," Christian said to herself, "I do hope I haven't gotten myself lost."

It had not taken long to see that Wisdom had spoken the truth about the library being extraordinarily large. After wandering some time through a seemingly endless maze of shelves, Christian now stood uncertainly at an intersection, looking this way and that, as if wondering whether she had passed it once already. At last she seemed to make up her mind and, going on a little further, presently came to the end of the aisle, where she found a pair of dark, heavy curtains. Pulling them back, she found to her surprise not a window, but a door, and upon it a sign bearing this inscription:

As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him: rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

Now Christian stood pondering these words for some time before looking about to see whether there might be any other clues to what they might mean. Finding none, she hesitated, then knocked cautiously on the door, and receiving no answer, carefully opened it and looked inside.

Here she found what appeared to be a small living room, with a large, comfortable chair sitting before a fire, and beside it a small table with a candlestick. Above the fireplace hung a portrait of a woman sitting at a desk, looking composed and contented, with a pen in her hand and children playing by her skirts, while the two opposite walls were lined with shelves full of books.

Christian found here a number of elegant volumes with embossed leather covers and gilt pages, offering treatises on marriage, motherhood, and managing one's time and resources well, as well as advice for young ladies on topics ranging from manners and deportment to health and beauty to becoming a better reader. Indeed, there seemed to be a book for everything and everyone, yet few that appealed to Christian in particular.

At last she came across one titled Heroines of the Faith: Women of the Word and What We Can Learn from Them, and opening it found a sketch of the author, which looked a good deal like the woman in the portrait. She wrote in an easy, conversational style which at once engaged her reader, expounding upon Scripture with the detail of a learned scholar and the feeling of an artist, which came together in wonderful illustrations which seemed to bring the accounts to life as never before, while extracting from them various principles, which she skillfully wove together with a number of amusing anecdotes and cautionary tales from her own life, all presented in a warm and motherly tone which made Christian sigh and miss her own mother. But recalling her purpose and finding the room too dark for prolonged study, and warm enough to put her to sleep, she closed the book and put it back in its place, resolving to come back and read further if she had the opportunity.

Then leaving the room, she went on until she came to another door, and opening it found a well-lit study with a small desk in the corner, a shelf full of old books, and walls covered with maps and paintings depicting scenes from the Scriptures. She stood studying and admiring these for some time before settling down in the chair and opening her book, to read of Rahab and Ruth, the songs of Hannah and Mary, and the wisdom and courage of Deborah, Jael, and Esther. She read, moreover, of David and Goliath, of Elijah contending with the prophets of Baal, of the cleansing of Naaman and the raising of Lazarus, and in all these, she was encouraged not only by the examples of great faith, but also by the testimonies of the grace and power of God.

Then closing her book, she turned to the books on the shelf, where she found such titles as The Centrality of the Cross in Interpreting Scripture and Law and Gospel: A Brief Commentary on the Letter to the Romans. These did not at first excite much interest, for though it could not be denied that such topics were of great importance, the books themselves were very plain and old, and their language seemed at first to be as dry and dusty as their covers. Yet as Christian began to read, she found here many simple yet profound truths which seemed to shed new light on all she had read previously, so much so that she often stopped and looked again at one passage or another, and at last went back and reread each one, ever seeing the good news it carried more clearly.

Here she remained for some time until Wisdom came and found her.

"How are you feeling now?" she inquired.

"Very well," Christian replied.

"Indeed," said Wisdom, looking upon her approvingly, "I can see you are already much improved. Did you find the books here helpful?"

"I did," Christian answered. "I can hardly believe what a difference they have made. I am sure I have read these accounts often enough, but I feel as though I hardly understood them before, or received half so much benefit from them."

"The best books do have that effect," said Wisdom. "Indeed, most books say far less with far more words, and apply to far fewer people, and I have here entire rooms full of books which I keep for reference, which I would rather see destroyed before I gave up one of these."

"Like the room behind the curtain?" asked Christian. "I found a book there I enjoyed a great deal, though I cannot tell now how it might compare to these."

At this, Wisdom smiled, and Christian saw that she held in her hand the book in question, which she now held out to her.

"Why don't you read it now, and tell me what you think of it," she said.

So Christian looked again and, to her great surprise, found the book she had previously thought so engaging and enlightening to be sadly lacking. She now saw that a number of verses had plainly been taken from their proper context, while others had been changed to fit the author's meaning. Furthermore, it was plain that in her interpretations, the author had engaged in a good deal of speculation and allegorization, so that for all the book's apparent clarity, the true meaning of the text had been greatly obscured. Yet perhaps the most troublesome realization was that of the author's emphasis, which had turned descriptive texts into prescriptive texts, and indicatives into imperatives, and thus replaced good news with merely good advice.

"Do you see much difference now?" asked Wisdom.

"I do," answered Christian, "so much so that I can hardly believe it is the same book, and wonder that I did not see this before."

"Yet it is hardly surprising," said Wisdom, "for such books are like candy. They are sweet, but not entirely satisfying when one is truly hungry, and safe enough in moderation, but as deadly as poison if one's diet consists of little else. Doubtless if you have never read anything better, you will find them tempting enough, regardless of the danger, but if you have a feast set before you each day and fill your plate with the choicest delicacies, you will have little appetite for such interior works.

"But now," she said, "we must be off, for there is someone here who would very much like to see you. Perhaps when you hear her story, it will help you will understand things more clearly."